No one but God can judge what lies in a man's heart.
"I have not forgotten--probably never shall forget--the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me on a Sabbath forenoon two years ago. Nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, ever been forgotten. In all, it has been your purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of the country for their constant prayers and consolations; and to no one of them, more than to yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay."
Abraham Lincoln
Letter to Eliza Gurney, September 4, 1864.
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. Intoxicated with unbroken successes, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
--A. Lincoln
March 30, 1863
I got this of of FR, but I didn't save the attribution:
"John McCain's assertion that he represents ``the party of Abraham Lincoln'' as opposed to the views of the ``Christian Right'' suggests he doesn't know nearly enough about either.
No other chief executive in this nation's history better personified vibrant faith or was more candid about his need for divine guidance than Lincoln, whose last official act before his assassination was placing the motto ``In God We Trust'' on all our currency.
Imagine if a president suggested that today.
Imagine if a president suggested today, as Dwight Eisenhower did in 1953, that ``under God'' be added to our Pledge of Allegiance.
The ``party of Abraham Lincoln,'' it says here, would embarrass Lincoln today.
``If ever there lived a president who, during his term of service, needed all the consolation and strength he could draw from the Unseen Power above him,'' Teddy Roosevelt once observed, ``it was President Lincoln. If there ever was a man who practically applied what was taught in our churches, it was Abraham Lincoln.''
Lincoln, like too few leaders today, possessed the courage of his convictions at a time in our nation's history when it was needed most.
``As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master,'' he said. ``Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.''
In his final public address Lincoln insisted, ``Important principles must be inflexible.''
If he said that today he'd surely get an argument. p> But would he be wrong?
Lincoln knew what he believed and why, and didn't shrink from it.
The ``Christian Right'' is comprised of men and women who also believe, as Lincoln did, that some things are not negotiable, indeed that certain truths endure to all generations and cannot be compromised, political correctness notwithstanding.
That's why the Secular Left had such a predictable field day with the aberrance espoused by fundamentalists at Bob Jones University, implying every conservative Christian bore responsibility for the school's policies, a charge as scurrilous as suggesting Father Charles Coughlin spoke for every Catholic or Rabbi Meir Kahane spoke for every Jew.
Faith in public life invites hostility these days, which is why political candidates are so timid in expressing it. But to run from faith in the name of Abraham Lincoln is laughable.
In the middle of the Civil War Lincoln confided to his secretary, ``I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction I had nowhere else to go.''
In 1863 he told a Baltimore audience, ``I have often wished I was a more devout man. Nevertheless, amid the great difficulties of my administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance in God, knowing all would go well and that He would decide for the right.''
When asked if he believed ``the Lord was on the Union's side,'' he replied, ``I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the right side. It is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on His side.''
John McCain, of all Republicans, given his horrendous wartime experience, ought to identify with Lincoln's comforting confession to a wounded general at Gettysburg: ``When everyone else seemed panic-stricken, I went to my room, got down on my knees and prayed. Soon a sweet comfort swept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands.''
To run from the ``Christian Right'' out of fear of offending the Secular Left is a political decision McCain is certainly free to make. But to explain that separation by saying he'd rather be identified with Lincoln is to bring to mind another of Honest Abe's memorable observations:
``It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.''
[end]
Walt
"I am glad to see you so profitably engaged," said Speed.
"I am profitably engaged," replied Lincoln.
"Well," said Speed, "If you have recovered from your skepticism (of religion), I have not."
Lincoln replied, "You are wrong, Speed. Take all of this book upon reason that you can and the balance on faith and you will live and die a happier man."
Claims that Lincoln was an athiest or scoffed at religion or people who were religious are not supported by the facts.